Gustavo, the Shy Ghost (The World of Gustavo)

Product Information

As a fun fact, in the graveyard scenes, you can find the names of my late grandparents engraved in the tombstones – Chuta, Lupe, Rolando and Tuto. More than anything in the world Gustavo wants to make a friend, but he also has a problem: he is very shy, so whenever he tries getting close to the other monsters in town, he realizes they can’t see him.

Really love this book - has a really lovely story about a shy ghost, and it doesn't go the expected direction of him changing to make friends, but the friends coming to him, when he shares what he enjoys. Not only is Gustavo the Shy Ghost set within the Day of the Dead, but the warmth between the characters, the interest and unique storytelling delight!I know that this is not how the story ends – at some point I even considered that Gustavo could be a real boy disguised as a ghost – but as the plot evolved the sheet joke became irrelevant as Gustavo was already showing his true self.

I did another experiment trying to mix both worlds and it turned out that the muted tones worked very well with the bright pink and orange. In Mexico we have a widespread tradition of hand lettering, you can see it everywhere, so I designed and traced the letters because I wanted them to have the same aesthetics as the drawings.

I’ve been seeing this book on Pinterest/ig influencers’ photos of their kids’ seasonal bookshelves and I wasn’t sure about it—I am very picky about what messages I am representing to my toddler through books, and like them to have nice illustrations as well. When that didn’t happen, she began her career as a graphic designer and a children’s book illustrator.